A Prayer

My father died of cancer one year ago this weekend. He was diagnosed with a brain tumor on February 24, 2007. He beat his cancer the very next day, February 25, 2007.

My father was never angry at life. He didn’t rage that life wasn’t fair or that it was cruel. I don’t remember him reflecting on what might have been. He remained focused on what was and what was to come.

He never felt the urge to see the world. “After all,” he told me “if I wanted to do that, I’da done it already”.

The remaining years of h is life he spent in his home; a retired teacher, a life well spent, in a small farm town in rural Minnesota.

These past few days I have spent in prayer. I have asked for the understanding that dad carried with him. Even a taste of the gentle peace he experienced. This morning my prayer was answered. It wasn’t the thunderclap of the Almighty. Neither was it the gentle words of a loving parent instilling hope and grace to a beloved child. Rather, the answer was delivered in the subtle manner of the Divine. Delivered in such a manner as to underscore the delicate message; to convey the lesson that the revelation of the answered prayer was at the same time an understanding of infinite peace .

I wanna share this message with you:

The Orchid. A Lesson in the Tender Mercies of the Circle of Life

Those who came before must make way for those who will come after.

Right in front of my face. This simple message, meant to teach that the Circle of Life is as much a part of the natural order of things as the Divine itself.

And now, may the God of Love delight to dwell with you and grant you Peace.